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Emily Ratajkowski

Real Name

: Emily O'Hara Ratajkowski

Born

: June 7, 1991 Westminster, London, England

Occupation

: Model actress

Personal Life

Emily O'Hara Ratajkowski born June 7, 1991 is an American model and actress. Born in London, England to American parents and raised primarily in California, she rose to prominence after appearing in the music video for Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines", which became the number one song of the year 2013 in several countries. Following its success, she became a high profile sex symbol, appeared in the 2014 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and began a movie career.

Her modeling career has progressed from retail adwork to arthouse erotica and high fashion. She appeared on the cover of the March 2012 issue of erotic magazine treats! This led to her being asked to appear in two music videos. Among her other cover appearances are GQ, Cosmopolitan and FHM. She has now been in two Swimsuit Issues.

Her acting career began with youth acting roles in the San Diego area before she gained a recurring role on iCarly and later roles in major films. Her feature film debut was as the mistress of Ben Affleck's character in the 2014 film Gone Girl. Her 2015 films include Entourage, her first leading role in the upcoming We Are Your Friends, with Zac Efron, and The Spoils Before Dying.

An only child, Ratajkowski was born in Westminster, London, to American parents. At the time of her birth her mother and father were aged 39 and 45, respectively, and not married; her mother Kathleen Balgley, a professor of English and writer described by Ratajkowski as a "feminist and intellectual", was in London temporarily to teach under the Fulbright Program. Kathleen and Ratajkowski's father John David "J. D." Ratajkowski, a painter and art teacher, had met when they both taught at San Dieguito Academy in Encinitas, California, near San Diego. The family settled in San Diego when Ratajkowski was five. She was raised primarily in Encinitas in a small house near the ocean.

Her father is of Polish and Irish descent; her maternal grandfather was a Polish Jewish immigrant to the United States and her maternal grandmother was of Irish and German origin. Her father was raised Catholic; her mother was raised Jewish and teaches at the San Diego Jewish Academy. Her mother formerly taught at California Polytechnic State University, known as Cal Poly. When asked about her heritage in 2012, Ratajkowski answered "Polish Israeli", although she had not yet been to Israel. She lived in and traveled to many parts of Europe during her youth, and has described spending long periods in Bantry, County Cork, Ireland, and Mallorca, Spain. From her early youth to the start of her career as a full-time model she spent each summer in Ireland. She has said that she grew up without the influence of television. Before modeling, she tried soccer, acting and ballet.

Exposure to the nude female figure in photography and art during her formative years prepared Ratajkowski for her eventual nude and semi-nude appearances before the camera. Ratajkowski said she is comfortable with the naked body due to her background and life experiences, stating "We have this culture of men, especially, watching pornography, but then offended by a classic nude portrait or photograph, and I've never felt that way". Her father's work as a visual artist exposed her to nudity in art. Ratajkowski also frequently visited nudist beaches during her youth in Europe; she said, "Mom was topless on the beach every summer in Majorca". Among her influences was exposure to the photography of Helmut Newton and Herb Ritts in books.